Climbing Wall

In 1986, the Outdoor Centre opened the first public, sport climbing facility in the city of Calgary. The indoor climbing facility has both a Climbing Wall and Bouldering Wall located in the Outdoor Centre. Both climbing structures are open to students, staff, faculty, alumni and the general public.

Did you know...?

The U of C climbing wall was designed for practicing outdoor climbing and mountaineering skills. Public and members are encouraged to use the facility to its fullest! Next time you are in try the follow climbing techniques:

Trad climbing

Multi-pitch techniques

Rappelling

Crevasse and Rock Rescue

Anchor building

Crack climbing

*If you want to learn one of these techniques seek instruction from one of our qualified instructors.

New Safety Code

The climbing wall has updated its safety code! All climbers with a belay test completed prior to September 9, 2013 are required to review the new safety code and wall orientation. Climbers will be evaluated with the new on the wall belay test free of charge.

The 13m indoor climbing wall at the Outdoor Centre features an Entre-Prises Wall and molded concrete panels embedded with; quartzite holds, texture, cracks and chimneys of all sizes—and even horizontal ceilings. Designed to simulate outdoor climbing, our climbing wall is unique in its ability to cater to the advanced climber who is looking to learn/practice skills such as; leading on gear, anchor building, rappelling, rock rescue and crevasse rescue. A wide range of routes and slab walls in addition to easy access to anchors means that our wall is a great for beginners as well.

Bouldering

Our bouldering area is made up of three unique walls; an overhung concrete wall with built-in and plastic features, a cinder block wall of inset concrete features, and a retro wooden wall from back in the day when climbers were really tough sh#t. A dedicated route setting team is continually setting, maintaining, changing and cleaning the problems in the bouldering wall. This means that there will always be high quality routes and something new to try every time.